Preschool Activity Trays

If you have little ones at home, whether you are homeschooling them or not, this post is for you!  This year I will be homeschooling my 4 year old for her last year of preschool.  She spent a year in Montessori School before we moved to China, and I love the Montessori Method!  So I really wanted to replicate that in my homeschool as much as I could.  Of course... I am in China, and still waiting for our shipment of household goods to arrive, so my resources are somewhat limited.  I managed to find enough to pull the following activities together.  So far, they are a big hit (not only with my 4 year old, but the older kids as well).

Math: Measurement

Supplies

A container of rice, a bowl (or 2), a measuring cup, a scoop, and cards with printed measurements

How it's Done

Child selects a measurement card, matches the number on the measuring cup, then uses the scoop to fill the cup with rice to that unit.  Then the rice is transferred to the bowl, where they can work on a second measurement.

Math: Order/Sequencing

We found these amazing nesting dolls at a Chinese market.  Look how tiny the smallest is!  This is a great activity for young children, and I love that it is self-correcting.  If you can snag a set for yourself, you won't regret it.  I've bought them online in the past.

Language: Reading

  

Supplies

Cards in a rainbow of colors with the colors written on them, and matching white cards with each of the same colors printed.

How it's Done

Child first sets out all of the colored cards.  Next, they pick up one "white" card at a time, and match the color on the card with the "colored" card as they say the name.

What I LOVE about this one is that you can see how excited such a young child gets when you say "You can read your colors!!!"  Not only are they learning to recognize the letter patterns of each word, they are seeing the word and the color together, which helps to reinforce the learning of that word/color.

Math: Counting & Number Recognition

Supplies

A cup of chocolate chips, and 10 Cookies cut from construction paper

Write one number on each (1-10), and add a "dots" to each cookie to represent the number of chocolate chips found in that cookie

How it's Done

Child sets out each cookie and adds the appropriate number of chocolate chips to each.  If your child is able, you can also ask them to lay the cookies out in numerical order.  Children better with their numbers might not need the "dots" added to the cookies at all.

After I put this together, I thought I should have added the number on the same side as the "dots" so my daughter could learn to connect the visual of the number, with the number of chocolate chips she was placing as she worked.  If your child hasn't quite learned that this "6" is a SIX... then I recommend doing this :)

Math: Patterning

Supplies

Strips of paper, a container separating various colors of small paper squares, and a glue stick

How it's Done

Child uses the colored squares to create a simple pattern on the paper strip.

I found that giving my daughter the freedom to just "go with it" got to be a little too much for her.  So I put the rule down that she could only use 2 colors for each pattern.  Once I'm sure we're getting the hang of that one, we'll move onto 3.

Math: Counting & Number Recognition

Supplies

A strip of card with groupings of pictures to represent the numbers 1-10, 10 clothespins with the numbers 1-10 printed on them

How it's Done

Child pins the clothespin onto the corresponding group of pictures

Fine Motor Skills

Supplies

Paper with large shapes traced on them (such as circles, squares, and diamonds), and a pair of scissors

How it's Done

Child cuts the shapes trying to work along the lines.

Language: Letter Recognition

Supplies

A Container, Small pieces of paper with the letters of the alphabet written on them, and 3 pieces with the word "BANG"

How to Play

Taking turns, each child (or child and parent) pulls a card from the container and reads the letter.  They place the letter in their pile, and the next person draws a card.  If the word "BANG" is drawn, that person must put all of their cards back into the bucket.  The person with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

However, it is pretty much impossible to end this game... so you may have to call it a game once the interest is wearing off.  

Practical Life Skills

Supplies

Wash clothes or other small, simple items for a child to fold.

How it's Done

Child folds the items on the tray.

Start small and work up!  After practicing folding at school, my daughter couldn't wait to help me with the laundry each week!  A double bonus!  ;)

Science: Classification, Hypothesizing, Experimenting, Analyzing

Supplies

A container of water, two containers (one marked "floats" and the other "sinks"), and an assortment of items for the experiment

How it's Done

Ask your child to first make a guess as to what items will float and what will sink by placing them in the appropriate container.  Then, test them out!  Ask your child if they had made the right guess.  If not, your child can place the item in the correct container.

Keep this activity fun by swapping out the items in the experiment.

Math: Money

Supplies

A piece of card that you have traced the various coins on, writing the coins value on each, and a cup full of coins

How it's Done

Child uses the coins to match the appropriate coin with it's value/place on the card.

Ok, so the penny and dime are SO close in size, so I came up with the idea to color each of the matching coin places the same color.  I also made sure my daughter understood that she needed to see the entire circle around the coin (since placing a penny on a dime's place would overlap the circle a bit).  By writing the coins value on the places, you are helping to reinforce the value that each coin has in your child's mind as they play along.

Language: Letter Recognition & Alphabetical Order

  

Supplies

A strip of card with the alphabet written on it, and 26 clothespins with the letters of the alphabet written on them

How it's Done

Child matches the letter on each clothespin with the corresponding letter on the alphabet card, and pins it into place.

I chose to use lower case letters on the card and upper case on the pins to help reinforce the relationship between the two with my child.  I also put the vowels in a different color on the card so that these stood out as being "special" letters in the alphabet.

Fine Motor Skills

Supplies

Chopsticks (We have kiddie chopsticks to start with), two bowls, and a handful of peanuts in the shells

How it's Done

Child practices using chopsticks by picking up the peanuts in one bowl and transferring them to the other.

 Start with kiddie chopsticks, and move onto regular chopsticks the more able your child becomes.  You can also move to peanuts without their shells for more of a challenge.

Language: Letter Recognition

Supplies

A clear plastic bottle, rice, alphabet letters, a print out of the alphabet, and a marker

How it's Done

Child searches for the letters of the alphabet in the bottle.  When a letter is located, the child locates the letter on their alphabet print out, and marks it off.  The goal is for the child to find all of the letters on their list.

I used some little foam alphabets that I had from a previous craft kit.  They work perfectly!

Math & Language: Number & Letter Formation / Handwriting

  

Supplies

A book with clear plastic page covers, printouts of number and alphabet tracers, and a dry erase pen

How it's Done

Child is able to draw on the plastic page covers to trace their numbers and letters, and later wipe the pages clean to work again.

 I LOVE the printables that author Jan Brett shares on her website.  These are perfect for this activity.  I also plan to add a page with my child's name in the beginning of the book, so she can practice writing her name and other common words.

Language: Writing

Supplies

Stationary, envelopes, address cards, a special pen, and stickers (stamps would be great too!)

How it's Done

Child has all of the things they need to write a special letter to someone special.  They write the letter, put it into an envelope, seal it, add an address (and a stamp) and decorate it with a sticker or two.

Science: Sorting / Classification

Supplies

Two containers, one labeled "soft" and the other "hard", and a collection of small items from around the house.

How it's Done

Child goes through the assortment of items and sorts them into the containers.

 To keep this activity fun, you can change the items often.

Language: Writing / Letter Formation

Supplies

Chalkboard, chalk, a paintbrush or Q-tips, a small cup of water

How it's Done

Ahead of time, and adult writes some simple words, or the letters of the alphabet on the chalkboard.  The child then takes a wet brush or Q-tip and traces over the lines of the letters to "erase" them.

Fine Motor Skills

Lacing cards with string, or a lacing kit like this one shown, are a great activity for young children to practice using their fine motor skills.  I was so excited when I found this little kit!

Fine Motor Skills

Supplies

Wrapping paper, tape, scissors, gift tags, ribbons (optional), pen (not pictured)

How it's Done

Give your child all the supplies they need to wrap their own gifts.  Allow your child to collect small items from around the home and wrap them up.  Add a bow if you have some handy, and have them attach a tag with a name on it.

I haven't met a kit yet that doesn't enjoy wrapping presents.  Ignore the fact that my tape is simply just a roll in this picture.  I haven't found anything other than this as of yet.. ha ha.  And I forgot to include the pen!  Perhaps you have some left over holiday tags and ribbons you can add as well.  I'm sure this would be a favorite!

I hope I've left you with some fun ideas for your little ones!